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2022　Tohoku Co-learning Camp

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Academic unit or major
Breadth courses
Instructor(s)
Kawashima Saho  Yamaura Hiroshi 
Class Format
Exercise    (Face-to-face)
Media-enhanced courses
Day/Period(Room No.)
Intensive ()  
Group
-
Course number
LAW.X364
Credits
1
Academic year
2022
Offered quarter
4Q
Syllabus updated
2023/2/22
Lecture notes updated
-
Language used
English
Access Index

Course description and aims

In this course, international students and Tokyo Tech local students will visit together the Tohoku region and learn its local history, characteristics and culture so that they can multiculturally think and discuss what the society would expect to science and technology fields in future. During the agricultural experiences of Kakuda city (pref. Miyagi), the students will understand more diverse aspects of Japanese society when they get to know some traditional styles of farming in the rural communities, which are different from those around the metropolitan area. The students will also visit the areas and facilities affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 and observe several research projects of engineering for reconstruction related to natural disaster, disaster prevention along with energy issues. (Note: Due to the COVID-19 prevention, the course of 2022 academic year, home stays in Kakuda City is postponed to the course in the next academic year. Instead, the students visit old traditional folk house museum near Tokyo Tech and walk around the Tokyo area to think about the relation of Tokyo and devastated area after natural disasters. The students visit Tohoku area to look at the rural sceneries and activities of reconstruction after 3.11.)

Student learning outcomes

Through this course, students will be able to
1. Discover traditional culture and life issues peculiar to the rural community and know about the diversity of Japanese society, through the agricultural experience and home stay at Kakuda city. (Due to the COVID-19 prevention, agricultural experience and home stay at Kakuda City is not held in the academic year of 2022.)
2. Deepen the knowledge of earthquakes and disaster prevention through visit to facilities related to Fukushima nuclear power plant and to tsunami-damaged areas.

Keywords

Tohoku region, Rural society of Japan, Earthquake disaster, Disaster prevention, Multicultural co-learning

Competencies that will be developed

Specialist skills Intercultural skills ✔ Communication skills ✔ Critical thinking skills ✔ Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

This course has a capacity and those who pass the selection can take this course. Course registration must be done by "Course Addition" from the portal site after being selected as participants of the course. The course will be from Monday, February 27th to Friday, March 3rd. The course in this academic year 2022 will be guidance, lectures of reconstruction and Tohoku, walking around the central Tokyo to learn Japanese policy and economics, and visiting to JAXA, Japanese traditional folk house museum and Tohoku co-learning tour.

Course schedule/Required learning

  Course schedule Required learning
Class 1 Monday, February 27. 9:00 Guidance by Hiroshi Yamaura, self-introduction by students, grouping, and instruction on the manners for this course. 10:00 Bus Tour to JAXA in Tsukuba City 17:00 Back to Ookayama Campus Understand the itinerary and goal of the course. At JAXA, look at the images of the earth from the international space center and think about space, the earth and nature. Learn international collaboration of science and technology projects.
Class 2 Tuesday, February 28. 9:30 Lecture on Reconstruction after 3.11 by Hideharu Takahashi 10:30 Group project "What can engineering contribute to the reconstruction after 3.11?" 11:00 Lecture on Tohoku area by Saho Kawashima 11:30 Group project "Topics that we would like to learn from Tohoku" Lunch break 13:30 Visit Japan Open-air House Museum in Kawasaki Learn the history, culture and agriculture of Tohoku area (such as Kakuta City) and reconstruction activities of engineering after 3.11. Each group will make a presentation on the topics, such as facilities to be visited, culture and geography of Kakuda city. Each student has to clarify his/her part of the pre-survey in the presentation. In stead of home stay this year, visit old traditional Japanese Folk House Museum near Tokyo Tech.
Class 3 Wednesday, March 1. 9:30 Walking around Tokyo central area (Nagata area, National Diet Building, Supreme Court, Ginza, Imperial Palace, Tokyo Station railways, Nihonbashi road traffic, Bank of Japan, Mitukoshi Mae, Akihabara) 14:30 Preparation of Tohoku study tour Understand politics and economics systems in Japan and think/discuss the relation to reconstructions of devastated area after natural disasters.
Class 4 Thursday, March 2. 8:00 Tohoku study tour day 1 Starting from Ookayama Campus 14:00 Decommissioning Archive Center in Fukushima Record the learning contents of each facility. Think about decommissioning, disaster/accident preventions and safety management.
Class 5 Thursday, March 2. 15:30 Tohoku study tour day The Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster Memorial Museum Record the learning contents of each facility. Write memos on the visit the devastated area after 3.11.
Class 6 Friday, March 3. Tohoku study tour day2: Visit to the facilities related to Fukushima nuclear energy plant and earthquake disaster learning including J village and Naraha Center for Remote Control Technology Development. Record the learning contents of each facility. Write memos on reconstruction and remote control technology development
Class 7 Friday, March 3. Tohoku study tour day2: Visit to the facilities related to Fukushima nuclear energy plant and earthquake disaster learning, followed by group presentation and individual report paper. Each group gives presentation on what they learned in the tour. Every student is also required to submit a report paper by due day.

Textbook(s)

None.

Reference books, course materials, etc.

Instructor will distribute teaching materials as needed.

Assessment criteria and methods

Participation in all the dates listed in the syllabus is compulsory for passing this course. The assessment will be made with 20% of pre-survey project (group presentation), 40% of final group presentation, and 40% of individual report paper.

Related courses

  • LAW.X441 ： Tohoku Co-learning Camp (Leadership Course)

Prerequisites (i.e., required knowledge, skills, courses, etc.)

This course has a capacity. Course registration must be done by "Course Addition" from the portal site after being selected as participants of the course. Application guidelines will be updated to the syllabus in January, 2023, based on the situation of the COVID-17 prevention. Those who plan to take the course will be asked to write an essay on the subject of "What I want to learn in this course" in the pre-registration period. No additional application will be accepted after the pre-registration period. Transportation fees and accommodation fee during the trip to Tohoku are subsidized by the university. On the other hand, transportation fees in Tokyo, food fees and travel insurance may be by students' own expenses.

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